Good 49ers’ secondary play is in the cards

The word will go out in a mass e-mail, just like a mini-flash mob call. One of the 49ers defensive backs will send a message to the others and like a volunteer fire department hearing a bell ring at the town square, the secondary members will gather quickly. Then what will ensue is a rousing game of cards or dominoes. The defensive backs gather for cards and dominoes when traveling and at home. And as you might expect, the games get competitive.

When told that cornerback Perrish Cox said he was the best dominoes player, cornerback Tarell Brown erupted, “(Bleep) no. Sorry, didn’t mean to swear.”

The games have another purpose – they make the defensive back a tight, cohesive group, something that has slipped onto the field of play. Last season, the secondary doggedly tried to keep up with their more highly-touted front seven. However, they would sometimes give up big yardage numbers to well-established quarterbacks.

This year, they’ve been far more stingy, finishing fourth in passing yards yielded. In fact, they’ve yet to allow a 300-yard passer in any game this year, although they did allow one 400-yard passer in Tom Brady (425 yards)

One reason for the better play is an ability to play more coverages with another year in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme. And another key is the open communication between players facilitated by their tightness off the field.

Cox is in his first year with the 49ers and his only other experience in an NFL secondary was his 2010 rookie season in
Denver with highly-decorated veterans Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins.

“Basically we all stick together, we are all as one on that back side and we all just try to help each other out. We talk more, we try to do more together,” Cox said of the 49ers’ secondary. He said that a young player can make a suggestion to a veteran and that communication is always open. That wasn’t always the case in Denver.

“You can actually take coaching from another player (with the 49ers),” Cox said. “I think that’s the hardest part about football. I’m not going to say all vets do this, but some of the vets won’t take coaching from another player. … Some of them may blow you off. When you are kind of close, you can take criticism. We joke around with each other. We can come at each other in all kind of different ways. We all listen to each other.”

Cox believes the time spent away the field has helped. And while there is a disagreement on who is the best domino player, Brown does agree with Cox about the communication.

“Just being around us every day and just trying to understand what we like to do and understanding the communication on and off the field, that definitely helps,” Brown said.